Overdrive
by Type069
Summary: Samus encounters Space Pirates using pure, original Chozo technology. These new super forces are being commanded by the once again resurrected Mother Brain. Can she stand up to an enemy using her own weapons?
1. Set Up

This is my very first fan fic. Yes I know that Samus' past is greatly different from what I've written. It was changed in order to fit the story. If you have any questions or any little arguments in the technical functionality of the suit, message me personally and I'll work it out with you.

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters and/or creatures in this story. I am merely a fan.

The red letters flashed on her visor, spelling out "Energy Low." She tried to use the energy in her reserve tanks, but a malfunction cut off her use of the stored energy. Smaller text was scrolling up her view, listing malfunctions with various components of her suit. Arm Cannon malfunction, Space Jump malfunction, Speed Booster malfunction; they continued to list technical problems with energy dispersal in her suit, resulting in movement failures in her arms and legs, and parts of her torso. Due to this, and the weakness of her worn out body, she was unable to move quickly. Samus could only manage to get in a crouching position. She couldn't run.

The computer in her suit informed her that it had found a way to reroute the energy in her reserve tanks to the auto-repair system so she could regain mobility. It had already started the process, but it wouldn't be quick enough. She watched as the monstrous claw of her ultimate enemy rose from the floor and stopped above her head, plunging down to crush her. Her vision was too blurry to see it clearly.

***

Samus ran through the twisted pipes and forgotten wires of the alleyway near some abandoned building, chasing the bounty. This particular one was difficult to find, and, upon her arrival, had already started running. It wasn't hard for her to find out that he was trying to lose her through the jungle of unused utility connections. She could see him clearly through the thermal visor, his arms and legs stretching slightly as he jumped over pipes and maneuvered through thick wires. He might have had an advantage, being native to this environment, if Samus wasn't as experienced as she was.

The pipes seemed to be in some sort of pattern. She had already memorized it and started activating her speed booster. The familiar sense of speed came to her legs as she moved faster, before suddenly exploding into a burst of super sonic movement. She ducked and jumped as the pipes flew at her, the wires disintegrating as she passed through them. She saw the red figure in her visor get closer. Deactivating her thermal visor, she leapt at him and tackled him to the floor. She turned to land on her back to keep him from getting killed on impact. Sparks flew for a moment as she slowed down. The target was too shocked to struggle for a few seconds. He began to try and wriggle free as punches flew at the armored hunter. She heard the bones in his knuckles crack on impact. Quickly, she activated her wave beam and rammed it into his side, sending electrical shocks into his body, stunning him to unconsciousness.

Samus stood up and threw his limp body over her shoulder without any effort. She deactivated her arm cannon, the equipment dematerializing into the suit, revealing her armored right arm. She began jumping up, grabbing onto ledges in the sides of the surrounding buildings, quickly making her way up to the rooftops. The orange tinted ship was waiting for her, engines on, hovering lightly over the metal structure. Samus jumped onto the top of the ship and descended through the hatch, dropping the catch in the small cargo room in the back, his arms and legs restrained. After the doors closed and secured themselves, she reached up and deactivated the helmet, the equipment dematerializing as her cannon had.

She breathed in deeply and let it out in a sigh, feeling the cold air on her face as she undid her ponytail. Her mission was almost complete. It was almost boring. A simple retrieval. The heavy metal of her suit's boots clanged lightly on the ship's floor, the pilot's seat empty. As she sat down the terminals began lighting up, the controls coming up in various holo-screens. She sent a quick transmission to her current employer, Trent Vascal, telling him she was on her way, then she activated the autopilot, the ship quickly taking off from the planet, on a course to a nearby space station.

Samus reached up and deactivated the rest of her suit, the whole thing dematerializing into the data storage in her Zero Suit. The blue, skintight suit began to deactivate the somewhat weak energy shield it normally maintained, sensing it was in the pilot's seat of the ship. Samus breathed in deeply, feeling somewhat vulnerable for a moment.

The ship began the routine cryogenic stasis operation, sealing Samus within a shield and putting her in a brief sleep, reenergizing her body and healing any wounds she might have, which she didn't at the time. She tried to relax as she drifted into the forced sleep.

She dreamt of the Chozo. Her former teachers and pupils while she was being trained. The warrior's code was branded into her brain; she would never forget it. And she would never forget the most talented of the group. The only one who succeeded her. He was chosen to be in the high elite, as was Samus, only she had refused. He was sent on a mission to a planet that was a former Chozo colony that had been taken by a hostile race, where he and the entire elite disappeared. The mission had been one of peace, not war. They were all presumed dead, but Samus always had a feeling that he was alive somewhere, waiting for some signal to reveal himself.

"_Cryogenics shut down complete. Suit diagnostic, underway."_

Waking up to not see the HUD display always shocked Samus mildly.

"_Diagnostic complete. Activating Varia Suit."_

The Chozo armor suit materialized around her, completely active and ready for anything.

"Status on prisoner." Her voice was filtered through the helmet and scrambled. The only technology capable of descrambling her voice and interpreting it for recognition was in the ship's control terminals.

"_Subject remains unconscious."_

Good. He wouldn't be awake to struggle. Samus got up and retrieved him, holding him with her left arm. She exited the ship from the top hatch and quickly made her way through the docking bay of the space station. Various ships of different origins were docked, all of them locked in security fields. The door to her destination was open, two thugs waiting on the outside, energy rifles armed and active. As she approached them they stiffened, hands squeezing the handles of their rifles tightly. She smirked behind the visor, almost praying for a tiny battle. She was being arrogant. She stopped smirking and continued past the thugs, almost towering over them in her suit.

Trent Vascal was sitting at the long table in the room. The place was over-decorated with rugs and chandeliers, comfy furniture toward the back of the room for casual company. The man looked smug. Samus dropped the bounty on the floor roughly, drawing a grunt of pain from him. He was starting to awake.

"Good work, Samus. I transferred your payment to the account. You've earned it."

"Make sure this scum gets what he deserves. I don't care about your personal vendettas against him. Just make him pay for his crimes against society." Her voice was a garbled computer's voice to him. Her identity would be secret from him. He only chuckled.

"Don't worry. He'll pay twice over for all he's done."

Samus nodded, satisfied with that. She turned and left the room, passing the thugs. They charged their weapons before she got too far and started firing on her. She dodged the shots fluidly and returned fire, easily killing both of them with accurate shots of her power beam. Their lack of armor meant quick death. The doors sealed off, red lights popping up in the bay, sirens going off. She cursed in her helmet and watched as more security guards started coming in. It seemed that they were trying to collect the bounty on her.

She got angry. Very angry.

She began yelling through the voice filter, her fury easily heard, even through the computerized voice. A few of them hesitated as they began aiming their weapons at her. She began to quickly shoot them all down with a mixture of plasma beam shots, and missiles. The survivors tried to take cover as the barrage continued to rain on them. Samus screamed and roared in fury, the computer's scramble adding an eerie effect to the noise. The psychological effect was staggering on these people. Some of them froze completely. After she cleared the room of all life, she noticed that the radar on her HUD was being scrambled. Before she could react, the sound of a charging rifle made itself apparent behind her helmet. Knowing the range and power of the weapon, she held her arms up in surrender.

"That was quite a show. I'm impressed." Her former employer walked out of the room he was just in, that smugness more present on him than before.

"Glad to entertain you," Samus said blandly. He chuckled and stopped in front of her, trying to see past the visor.

"I've always wondered if you were human or not. That show of fury you gave me has convinced me that you are human. No simulation matches that kind of anger." He chuckled smugly again. Her right hand twitched slightly within the cannon, plasma beam still active.

"Your technology is very interesting; far more advanced than any form of federation technology. I wonder where you have gotten it…" He trailed off, pacing slightly, his back to her. "I haven't seen technology that advanced since my first and only encounter with the Chozo." Samus' eyes widened slightly. "Of course, not living Chozo. I doubt any of them even exist any more. But they are spread around the galaxy in ruins. Maybe you just happened to find enough working equipment to make a suit.

"Or maybe you have encountered living Chozo." He faced Samus and quickly walked up to her. "Maybe you were given that suit from living Chozo, and even conversed with them. Maybe the secrets to their society is somewhere within that suit." He stared over the fine lines of the armored suit, the expression on his face almost hungry. He looked into the green visor.

"Where did you get this suit?" Samus stayed silent. "What is the Chozo society like?" she continued her silence. He punched the armored chest piece in frustration, yelling out as he recoiled. She held in her laughter.

"Fine. We'll just tear that suit off of you and find out ourselves." Two people grabbed her arms and locked them together with binding energy cuffs.

"You're all going to die," her computerized voice said. She could feel the fear of the people behind her as they hauled her away.


	2. Protect and Enlighten

Chapter 2 of Overdrive. This is most likely going to be a short story, but I already have ideas for a few more stories to continue this story-line. Tell me if I wouldn't be completely insane in trying to do that. And if I would, then I'll abandon all ideas of torturing your eyes with my bad stories.

"_They can see who you are down to the deepest level. They can see everybody."_

"_How? Did they learn from someone?"_

"_They learned from time. They learned from the ages of nature and listened as time itself spoke to them, and taught them how to see with true eyes." Young Bird stared into the distance, as if he too were listening to time, watching it pass before him._

"_Did they ever tell you what they saw in you?"_

"_Of course," He turned and looked at her. "They don't have secrets from us. When they interpret what they see in you, they'll tell you too."_

_Samus looked down at her armored hand, the orange tinted metal gleaming in the afternoon sun. She turned her hand over and watched as the green orb caught the same light and glowed._

"_They took great care in constructing your suit. They see much in you." She looked up at him, his own armor shining in the sun._

"_What do you see in me?"_

***

In a way, Samus was lucky that they didn't want the bounty on her head. The demands for it were dead or alive. If they wanted her technology, or answers to its origins, they needed her alive. She could escape.

They tried torturing her at first, shocking her with industrial strength electrodes. She just bit down and kept from making any noise the whole time. Minor pain compared to what she had experienced before. Then they tried prying at the joints of her suit in an attempt to remove at least part of it. She had turned off the voice relay in her helmet and laughed at them. She tried to hold it in, being watchful and patient for her chance to escape. But it was just too funny seeing how desperate they were.

After a few hours they locked her down to a wall and left the room. Samus checked her restraints. They were the same energy based cuffs they used on her earlier. She checked her suit's energy reserves. She had a full twenty tanks. It would take five of them to adequately disrupt the energy shackles that held her to the wall.

"Computer, vent 500 units of energy from the ports near all joints."

The computer relayed the acceptance message onto her visor and began to release the energy from the vent ports around her wrists and ankles, the energy shackles slowly dissipating. She jumped from the wall as soon as the energy cuffs were fully disrupted. She shot the security camera too late. Alarms started going off, a lockdown procedure underway. She quickly blasted the cover off a ventilation shaft and jumped in, activating her morph ball.

"Sir. Our cameras have shown Samus escaping from the holds. We don't know where she is now."

Trent looked sick to his stomach as he heard this, his skin visibly turning green. A Space Pirate stepped forward from the shadows, placing a claw on the back of the man's chair.

"This is an unfortunate turn of events." The Pirate's garbled English scratched at Trent's eardrum, making him shudder.

"We can find her. We can track her down and contain her again. I promise."

"Your words are meaningless." An energy scythe sprang from the pirate's forearm as he kicked the man out of his seat.

"No! We can still capture her! Just give me one more chance!"

His head was sliced off before more promises could be made. More Space Pirates began disengaging their stealth cloaks and quickly ran out the door, searching for their most hated enemy.

Samus sprang fourth from the ventilation shaft and into the docking bay, rolling out of morph ball in mid-air. Two people were looking over her ship, possibly trying to gain access to it. She started running toward them, ready to shoot them down. Space Pirates dropped from the ceiling and impaled both of them with their energy scythes. One of the three pointed at Samus, yelling to his comrades. The other two began sprinting to her, firing their rifles. She ducked behind the force field that guarded a ship, hearing the thuds of more pirates dropping in. Their growls and roars were directed at her as more shots hit the wall behind her.

She dashed out and fired the plasma beam in the group, incinerating a few of them. She charged the beam and released the powerful spire of energy on them, the entire group disintegrating into ashes.

Sirens went off in the docking bay. More pirates would be there soon. She ran to the ship and jumped to the top of it, descending into the hatch. Her ship already started hovering, ready to leave as soon as she sat down. She shot the locked docking bay doors open and immediately flew out, away from the space station. She was about to enter warp speed when a shot hit the ship's hull. A view screen popped up among the holo-screens, showing her a fierce looking gunship. From the way it was structured, she guessed it was a Space Pirate ship. A quick scan of the ship gave her doubts though. It didn't seem to have all the little weak points that Pirate tech always seemed to have, plus it was far more advanced than mainstream Pirate gunships. Maybe it belonged to something high ranking in the Space Pirate army.

A few more shots hit, blowing something out on the hull. She flew faster and dodged the attacks. There was a nearby moon she could land on, the planet it orbited devoid of life. If this thing wanted her, it would have to fight directly. It didn't take long for her ship to approach and land on the barren rock, the attacking ship landed as well, further from her location. Samus left her ship and began running toward the attacker. Her gunship began sending data to her, telling her that a life form had exited the ship and was currently heading in her direction. She activated her speed booster.

The orange dot appeared on her radar, but she couldn't see what she was after. Samus slowed down and searched the area. Her thermal visor showed nothing, and neither did the x-ray visor. The orange dot stayed stationary. She walked toward it cautiously, her arm cannon forward. Once the radar told her she was right next to it, she fired around at the air. As she took a step forward, something crackled with electricity under her boot, the orange dot disappearing. She looked down to see some sort of small circular device. A distraction.

A tremendous burst of energy hit her back, surging through her body and sending static through her visor. Rolling into morph ball, she boosted away. She came out behind a boulder and tried to gather herself. She set her radar to pick up all movement around her, instead of just the movement of organisms. It would be powerful enough to pick up dust being kicked up from the ground. Slowly, another orange dot made itself visible on the radar, slowly making its way toward her. She charged her wave beam out and jumped up on top of the boulder. The cannon absorbed the charged shot and burst forward in a winding snake of energy called the Wavebuster. It automatically sought out some form of life and began sending electric shocks into its body. Yells of anguish sounded as a damaged cloaking device was disrupted and revealed something inside an armor suit. It almost looked like a Chozo armor suit that had been designed for use by Space Pirates. What was inside the suit was definitely Space Pirate shaped.

The creature regained its composure and charged at Samus. The weapons mounted on its arms were definitely of Space Pirate origin. Forearm mounted energy scythe, and a very powerful looking assault rifle. Its athleticism surprised her as it missed the first strike of its scythe, and immediately turned to swing again. Usually Pirates put all of their strength into a single strike and fought. Very ineffective against an agile target. This thing's exoskeleton was less organic than other pirates, and seemed very much like the armor worn by Chozo warriors.

Several blasts hit her armor, the shielding going down a few units. Its attacks were also stronger. She began firing her plasma beam at the creature, the powerful energy exploding on contact. It flipped back and fired from the air. Samus ducked down and charged her beam, sprinting forward as the creature landed. Its shots were off, missing Samus' head by centimeters. She knocked its rifle away and tackled it to the ground, pinning its scythe arm down with her left hand. Before the creature could get away, Samus' cannon was in its face, the charged shot barely contained at the end of the barrel. The creature stared forward, as if it knew it was defeated.

Samus felt the light tapping near her neck. Glancing down, she saw the creature's rifle aimed right into her neck, between the helmet and her torso section. Deactivating the charge, she slowly stood up, releasing the creature that matched her in strength and strategy. It stood and stared at her. She could just barely see the yellow eyes behind the red visor, glowing angrily.

The eyes squinted briefly before the pirate charged forward, slicing the air wildly with its scythe. Samus shot it in the stomach, the plasma beam easily ripping through the armor. The armor mimicked hers in design, but wasn't perfect. The pirate's green blood dropped to the ground, already starting to freeze. It stumbled onto its back, clutching its wound, roaring in pain. Samus walked to it calmly, plasma beam charging. She stopped in front of it and aimed for its head. It watched her, still holding the wound. She tried seeing past its visor again, holding off her attack. Blood must have filmed the inside of the visor; she couldn't see its eyes.

Right before she released the spire of plasma energy, something heavy struck her side and launched her away from the pirate. She hadn't noticed the large orange dot on her visor that came up on her so quickly. She turned and faced the new attacker and froze.

Ridley. The dragon-like monster took the dying creature in one of his claws and faced Samus, his yellow eyes glowing fiercely. He roared, fire like plasma energy spewing forth. Samus was too caught up in emotion to notice that Ridley's meta-armor was heavily modified. Just as she was about to attack, she noticed all the Chozo markings that adorned the metal plating of Ridley's armor. Her hesitation earned her another blow to the side. Ridley's tail whipped behind him as he finished swiping at Samus. She immediately charged her beam and released the plasma energy at him. He merely waved his claw and redirected the spire of plasma away from himself. The markings on his armor glowed brightly. Samus charged her power beam up and fired a super missile. Ridley held the claw up once again and froze the missile in mid-flight with a powerful burst of cold energy.

Samus just stared. Ridley was using original Chozo equipment. The only thing modified about it was the fact that the armor was fitted over his structure. Ridley had always been very difficult to defeat in combat, and he was constantly brought back, but Samus wasn't sure how she matched against Ridley when their technology was even. Ridley roared again as large amounts of electrical energy built up in his throat, charging within his mouth. It erupted in the winding stream of the wavebuster and automatically locked onto Samus. The powerful attack sent unimaginable amounts of energy into her suit, disrupting her visor display and even her air supply.

Ridley stopped and watched as Samus fell to her knees. He had finally become completely even, combat wise, with his most hated of enemies. Ridley looked at the still dying Space Pirate in his claw and back to the heavily injured Samus. He could only have one victory today. Snarling hatefully at Samus, he turned away and flew into the distance. The oxygen supply had repaired itself quickly, and Samus was gasping for breath. She watched until Ridley could no longer be seen. She looked down at her cannon, wondering how it was possible that Ridley was using her own technology. What had changed that allowed them to access the guarded technology? How were they able to manipulate it, and even replicate it as they saw fit?

Samus had called her ship so automatically, she didn't even realize she had done it. The orange ship landed next to her, the top hatch opening up. Her suit's energy was somewhat low. She jumped onto the ship and descended through the hatch.

***

"_Our technology has been looked upon as the most advanced in the galaxy. We have been endowed with great power and intelligence. And we have used these gifts to pursue enlightenment, through the arts of our sculptures, our murals, and even through our art of combat. We use all of these together, as we seek the great truth. And with the gifts we have received, comes the unnecessary jealousy of our fellow beings. _

"_Many creatures of hateful origins seek our technology to inflict horror on others. And with our technology, they seek our death. The art of combat was designed in order to protect those in need. To protect all beings of the galaxy, and to keep our existence here, so that we will have the chance to learn the truth. _

"_Do not fight out of anger, or revenge. Do not let your drive to fight be the fear that you are weak, or the sorrow of your fallen family. For if you let your anger, your vengeance, your fear, and your sorrow be your motivation, you will be the end of your own life. The killing will never end, and eventually, the bodies that surround you will be the corpses of your family._

"_Fight to protect all that is precious, and honor those who fall at your hand, for they too were once your family. Find the truth in yourself as you practice that art of combat, and feel safe, as you will be protected by the suits that you wear. They well never turn against you."_

_The Elder Chozo finished his speech to the warriors and waved them farewell. They all turned to leave the chamber, but a clawed hand held Samus' armored shoulder back._

"_There's one more thing we wish to discuss with you, Samus."_

_She turned to see some of the Chozo who had helped in adapting the power suit to her._

"_What is it?" Her voice wasn't distorted, as her helmet was currently under her right arm._

_They began to lead her to another room to the right of the chamber, the door opening automatically._

"_Seeing how you lack our ability to create and manipulate energy, and carrying around heavy assault weaponry is severely impractical, we've been working on a portable and adaptable weapon for you to use. It will utilize our most powerful energy weapons, as well as ballistic weaponry. It functions the same way your suit does, and will seamlessly adapt onto it." They all stopped and cleared a path for Samus. On a raised platform was a cylindrical device, the hollow end pointed toward her. She walked up to it and studied it. It was currently deactivated, the energy compartments dim, and the small control panel on the side of it open and exposed. Samus slowly slid her arm inside the device and watched it light up as it connected to her suit._

"_Put your helmet on," one of the Chozo behind her instructed._

_Samus slowly put her helmet on with her free left hand. Information began to come up on her visor, detecting the presence of the arm cannon. It listed the weapons diagnostic and the current power out put it needed. There was more than a sufficient supply. Samus began to push the buttons on the small panel, calibrating the weapon and entering in her own personal settings. When she was satisfied she turned to her Chozo companions. They nodded their approval and allowed her to leave._

_The elder chamber was empty, save for the elder meditating on his raised platform. The whole room exuded a sense of completeness and renewal, cleansing Samus of her worries and her past horrors. She took a deep breath, the air, though filtered, saturated with the cleansing energy. She would protect all in need, and seek enlightenment through the art of combat._


	3. Captured

Samus woke to the shut down of the cryogenic stasis. The ship was nearing the docking bay of a space station. The autopilot guided the ship to landing while Samus stood up and prepared to leave the ship. The Zero Suit became completely active, the low-level energy shield enveloping her body. Her full power suit was stored within this suit, all of its abilities and weapons hidden. The hatch opened and Samus ascended into the docking bay, nimbly jumping off the ship. A few beings of various races were walking in and out of the docking bay, not paying attention to Samus or anyone else. She walked through one of the doors and into a lift. The others in the lift didn't recognize her, and didn't say anything. Only one thing in the station would recognize her, as she was a very valuable customer of it.

The lift reached its destination and opened its doors. The creatures filed out and went to wherever they needed to go. Samus walked through the dimly lit hallways, already having memorized the entire station. One of the doors opened, revealing a large room filled with creatures of all origins. Vendors sold various items from cutouts in the large hall, trying their best to hook at least one customer. Samus ignored them all and pushed past many shoppers to get to the end of the hall.

"Samus!"

The voice belonged to a rather horrible looking creature that seemed to be slowly rotting from the inside out. Its voice was low and raspy; every little move it made was a jerking twitch. It coughed a few times before it turned and walked into the more concealed part of its cutout. The items for sale that hung from the roof were of no use to her. She followed the horrid creature into the back room and pulled out a small device. A small holo-screen popped up from it. She put it down on a small table and took a seat opposite.

"A blank check? This must be important, if you're leaving the price up to _me_." The creature hacked out a laugh and a cough at the same time.

"I need to know how the Space Pirates got their hands on Chozo technology."

"Oh. That is a big one." It began to push buttons on the holo-screen's interface, naming its price. Samus took the device and looked at the numbers. She glanced at the creature, her eyebrow raised. It merely shrugged.

Samus pushed accept and allowed the charge to go to her account.

"So, how have they gotten past the security measures of Chozo technology?"

"Simple. They got someone to do it for them."

"Who?"

"A Chozo."

"Impossible." Samus raised her voice, slamming a fist down on the table.

"It's very possible. After all, Chozo are severely susceptible to the effects of Phazon Madness."

"What?"

"The Space Pirates used the last of their phazon supplies to torture captive Chozo warriors. Elite Chozo warriors if I'm not mistaken."

"The Chozo are in hiding."

"They were captured before they went into hiding. On a planet designated MG-239."

Samus was completely silent. She already knew what planet that was. She even knew the exact coordinates. _They_ had been sent there. A long time ago.

***

"_Nice cannon. I knew they were going to give you an unfair advantage." Young Bird stood outside of the chamber, waiting for Samus._

"_Nope. We're even now." Samus looked over her arm cannon once again, eager to test it out._

"_Maybe after my mission we can see if we're even or not. After all, it's been awhile since I practiced with you."_

"_Hopefully you won't get worn out by the hostiles. I wouldn't want to face a weak opponent while testing this out." Samus aimed her cannon, testing how fast she could move with it. It was as if nothing had been added to her suit._

"_I doubt anything will be around to fight. They haven't sensed much activity on the planet after we evacuated. The chances of a fight are very low."_

"_Then why send the entire elite to the planet?"_

"_Because if a fight does break out, we need to be there to end it with no casualties."_

"_Are they really that dangerous?"_

"_They got us to evacuate the planet so many years ago. They must be dangerous."_

"_Come back unharmed."_

_Young Bird looked at Samus, a slight confusion in his eyes._

"_Of course. I didn't plan coming back any other way."_

***

Samus shook herself from her flashback and looked at her informant. He looked weary, yet twitchy with some unnatural energy.

"You should leave here. They're coming this way. And they aren't holding back this time."

The station lights went black at that moment and were replaced by even more dim emergency lights. Samus' hand was already on the pistol in the holster on her right thigh. A voice came up on the intercom, speaking in an alien language that Samus couldn't understand. Then the message repeated in a different language. Samus left the little room and went back out into the hallway, heading back to the docking bay.

The message finally repeated in English.

"Warning, all beings must evacuate the station immediately. This is not a drill." Everyone in the hall had already started moving away from the vendors and toward the lifts. They didn't start running until an explosion sounded from the roof. Samus looked up toward the explosion in time to see Ridley in the center of the large hole, commanding something to drop in. Once he moved out of the way, several Space Pirates dropped from the ceiling and landed nimbly on the ground, weapons aimed at Samus. She fired a few shots at them, ducking into another cutout while the more powerful shots from the Pirate's weapons flew at her. Luckily, she had ducked into a weapon selling cutout and grabbed a large assault rifle, the rounds already loaded and armed.

She jumped out from the cutout, firing the weapon at the Space Pirates. They were armed with the same pseudo Chozo weapons that the other Pirate was armed with. Ridley was no where in sight. As soon as Samus got behind another cutout, she dropped the rifle and activated her Varia Suit. The bright glow formed around her body as the suit materialized almost instantly. Samus looked through the wall with her X-ray visor, seeing the Pirates running toward her. She jumped out and began firing missiles at them. None of them had time to dodge, all of the missiles connecting to them. One had been hit in the head, the visor shattering and the missile exploding within his helmet. He died quickly.

The others cringed for a moment before resuming fire. Samus fired her plasma beam, the powerful beam piercing through their armor and lighting them on fire. However, They quickly cooled down and continued firing. Their suits were definitely more advance. Samus ducked down into morph ball and planted a powerbomb. She immediately came back out and ran toward the lifts, the explosion enveloping the Pirates.

Samus didn't look back, but she could hear Ridley's roar of anger, and the rumble of his impact on the metal floor. She was right in front of the lift's doors when she heard the high pitch screech of a fired ice spreader. She jumped into the air, somersaulting. Her space jump brought her high into the air before she deactivated it. She could see the entire floor, and parts of the wall covered in a wall of ice. It was even more powerful than her own ice spreader. Once she landed on the floor, she turned to Ridley. His jaws were still misted over with ultra cold energy. The armor he wore was definitely a slightly modified Varia suit. And he obviously had very powerful weapons at his disposal. Samus was suddenly overcome with rage. Ridley had tortured her Chozo comrades with phazon, tortured them to a point that they turned their technology, and their secrets over to him. Samus and Ridley both roared at the same time, Samus out of anger, Ridley out of vengeance.

Another Pirate tried to jump down, ready to join the fight. Ridley impaled it on his tail and flung it away. Samus ran at Ridley, power beam charging. Ridley turned in time to be met with a super missile impacting his face. He roared as he stumbled back, already charging electrical energy in his claw. The powerful orb was released, hitting Samus and overloading her visor. Ridley's tail sent Samus flying back toward the lifts. She immediately got back up and fired her charged plasma beam at him. He redirected the spire away from him and fired his own plasma beam. Samus charged her ice beam and fired an ice spreader at his mouth. It hit him squarely in the jaw, freezing his head over. Ridley's body squirmed and thrashed for a second before beginning to freeze over as well.

Samus immediately got into the lift and blasted the roof open. She shot the energy clamps, breaking them off and causing the entire lift to free fall. She waited a moment before jumping out of the lift and onto the docking bay floor. It was a few seconds before a loud explosion told her the lift hit the bottom.

Ridley's roar could be heard all the way to the docking bay. More explosions sounded while the entire station rocked. Samus wasted no time and used her speed booster to get to her ship. The hatch opened up and she got in, just as Ridley exploded into the docking bay. Samus took off out of the docking bay as quickly as the ship could allow. Ridley was close behind her, flying through space by back mounted thrusters. Samus used the rear mounted plasma gun to knock him off course. He couldn't black any of the shots and was blasted backwards, right as Samus' ship entered warp speed and shot off into space.

Ridley hovered in place for a moment, staring at where Samus' ship was. After a few seconds, he turned and flew toward a cloaked Pirate battleship.


	4. Strength

Tallon IV had been completely abandoned by the Space Pirates since the crater collapsed. The federation never took interest in it, as the entire phazon supply was destroyed in the collapse. Samus' ship began to enter the atmosphere, heading toward a cleared spot in the Phendrana Drifts. The base the Space Pirates left behind was in ruins, slowly decomposing in the harsh cold. The monthly blizzards were claiming the structure and burying it in ice and snow.

Samus slowly pulled the ship into landing, her Varia Suit still active. She left the ship and looked around for any sign of enemies. The snow was completely undisturbed. The only movement was the gentle fall of snow flakes and a breeze every now and then. She jumped from the ship and landed in the snow. The sound of the impact echoed in the cold air. The entrance to the Ice Chapel was to her right, the structure still visible and untouched, even after the blizzards. The Chozo built structures that they intended to last forever. The door the Space Pirates had put in long ago was not active. However, the technology was old. Samus had weapons now that could rip through the door and open it.

The floating rock platforms that used to hover around the area had collapsed months ago. Samus had the space jump now though. No height was her limit. She began to somersault, flying through the air and easily landing at the entrance to the Ice Chapel. She activated her plasma beam and charged it. The energy was absorbed into her cannon and let loose in a stream of fire. Her missiles were being burned through steadily, the flamethrower melting through the old door and tearing it apart. Samus deactivated the flamethrower and kicked the door in. It flew into the open hallway, leaving jagged edges in the doorway.

Samus walked through the hallway and to the already open door to the Ice Chapel. No living creatures inhabited the room, and the snow that fell from the open ceiling refused to completely cover the floor. It was completely untouched by both life and nature. Samus looked upon the statue in the center of the wall in front of her. She jumped up and landed on the plate it was holding up, sitting down and preparing to meditate. Her cannon had already dematerialized.

She began concentrating on the flow of her energy and the flow of her suit's energy. She could feel the action of balancing on the plate with more than just her body. She could feel her energy as it balanced along with the plain of existence that the plate represented. She concentrated on the balance and tried to break through the veil of shadow that separated her from the planet MG-239. She tried to find the connection between the Space Pirates and the Chozo. Trying to see how they bonded themselves to the forbidden technology. She received something she didn't expect.

"It isn't the technology that makes them strong. It is their delusions of strength that make them strong." A strange voice spoke, sounding like the collective voices of many beings.

Samus opened her eyes and saw the semi-transparent figure of a Chozo ghost. It glowed a bright blue and white in color, and was detailed enough for Samus to see its facial features. It slowly settled into sitting a sitting position in midair in front of Samus.

"Newborn, do you understand why our colony came to this planet?"

"To seek enlightenment through nature. To throw away the shackles of technology and to become one with the world around you."

"Yes. Because technology is a hindrance. What strength it brings is merely material, and can only affect the world in a miniscule way. Real strength comes from our harmony. It comes from the true depths of your soul and surpasses all material strength. Your enemies may have your armor, and your weapons, but they don't have your strength. They can never surpass you, for you are stronger."

The ghost faded from view, its voice fading with it. Samus stood and jumped from the statue, ready to find the Pirates and get them off of the Chozo's planet.


	5. Pirate Warriors

"She… Approaches…" The last words spoken by the creature left it. All that came from it next was a low gurgling sound, and the thud of its impact on the ground.

"The last prisoner died."

"Take it to the garbage. It is of no more use." Low ranking Space Pirates deactivated the holding cell's shield and began dragging the dead Chozo away.

"Should I report the prisoner's last words to Lord Ridley?"

"No. Its mind was broken. Those words were absolute nonsense." The Pirate nodded and went back to its duties. None of them were aware of the eyes watching them from within the ventilation system, understanding fully the meaning of those words. Samus was approaching.

***

The thrusters roared, pushing the orange tinted gunship through space at unimaginable speeds. The pilot's seat was empty, as Samus was working on her suit. She had never removed it since her last encounter with Ridley, and she was activating all of the items she could on it. She had activated her Gravity Suit, her Screw Attack, and every other ability she had been keeping inactive. Her suit's full power was flowing through her body, energizing her. Samus had no need for this amount of power on a daily basis. Not many of her missions demanded that kind of output. Her purple tinted armor was polished nicely, reflecting everything around it.

But she also remembered the words spoken to her on Tallon IV. She wouldn't rely on her equipment to get her through her mission. She would only rely on herself, and her inner strength. She sat in her piloting seat and began to meditate. She didn't allow the ship to put her in cryogenic stasis. She slowed everything down and emptied her mind.

For a moment, she could feel sorrow over a loss. A fallen comrade. She felt the presence of the Chozo on planet MG-239 become smaller. But she also felt something else. The heartbeat, the life force of a Chozo. She could feel a living being that wasn't of a hateful origin. She lost it very quickly.

Samus opened her eyes, deciding that it was nothing. Merely a hopeful wish that there were friends on the hostile planet. The planet was within range of her scopes. The ship slowed down and began to prepare the shielding for atmospheric entry. The computer found a suitable landing spot that was nearest to the Pirate activity. The ship rattled slightly from the change in gravitational pull and the friction from the atmosphere. Samus stood from the seat and walked to the exit of her ship. Soon the ship landed, settling the hover pads to the ground and opening the hatch. Samus rose into the air and looked around. It was raining, and the area around her was mostly the structure the Pirates built over the Chozo buildings.

Samus jumped from her ship and aimed around, looking through all of her visors. Nothing was hidden. Most likely the Pirates detected her planet fall and were strengthening their defenses. Samus ran to the blue door of the Pirate base and fired at it, the blue energy fading and the door opening. Samus could faintly hear the guttural barking of Space Pirates.

She activated her wave beam and ran through the door. The sirens began blaring at her intrusion and the lights dimmed almost to black. Samus activated her thermal visor and watched the Pirates come into view. They weren't the power suit-wearing Pirates she had engaged before, but as she scanned them, she could see Chozo based weaponry on their arms. She began to fire on them, the shots from her wave beam tracking them and connecting immediately. They cringed momentarily before continuing their charge to the hunter. Samus began methodically taking them out with missiles. One survived the barrage and managed to take a swing at her. She rammed her cannon into its gut and fired her plasma beam wildly. It slowly became nothing but loose ashes.

The lights brightened back up and the sirens stopped. A large security door on the other end of the room opened. Samus began running to it, the metal footsteps echoing in the large room. Locking mechanisms sealed the door off as a single Pirate dropped from behind her. She immediately turned and begun firing at it. It dodged the shots and jumped behind a pillar. The mismatched patches of armor on its stomach area allowed Samus to identify it as the same Pirate that first engaged her on a moon. Information popped up on her visor. Her ship had hacked into the Pirate base's computer network. She learned the name of the special unit. The Pirate Warriors.

She closed the information and turned back to the fight. The Pirate jumped back out and fired at Samus. This time, the beam was easily recognizable as a plasma beam. Samus returned fire with her own plasma beam. Each of them took some damage from their weapons. The Pirate Warrior was more adept in using the technology than the others. Samus stood still for a moment, the Pirate stopping as well. She deactivated her cannon, the weapon dematerializing. The Pirate Warrior watched as well, seeming to be intrigued. Samus' hands curled up into fists as she slowly took a fighting stance. The Pirate removed his weapon and unsheathed his energy scythe. He also took a fighting stance. Samus charged forward and began to throw punches, a few connected while he attempted to dodge. He returned with punches and slashes from his weapon. Samus pushed the scythe away and attempted to break it off of his forearm. The armor cracked subtly before the Pirate managed to pull away. Samus immediately ran to him and began to rain a barrage of kicks and punches. His attempts at blocking were failing as the armor on his arms began to dent and crack. Electricity began to crackle as the armor was compromised.

Samus was finally kicked backwards, flying through the air and landing on her back. She got back up to see energy running over the surface of the Pirate's armor. He was attempting to use an auto repair function in his suit. Samus ran forward and continued her barrage of punches and kicks. The Pirate's energy was draining quickly as he continued to use the repair function to keep his armor from failing. Soon he couldn't keep his arms up for blocks or move fast enough to counter. A direct hit to his visor cracked it and sent him to his knees. Samus relaxed from her fighting stance and looked down at the fallen warrior. Her arm cannon materialized and expanded forward, the plasma beam active. The Pirate's eyes were difficult to see beyond the spider web of cracks, but they were dim. Samus aimed at the visor, about to unleash the final blow. His head fell for a moment in defeat, waiting for death. Samus lowered her cannon and began walking away. The Pirate looked up and watched her walk away through the broken visor. Although it was written into his genetic code that he should get up and fire as many shots into her back as he could, he ignored that instinct and just watched her leave the room.

Once the door closed a low hissing sound came from above him. He looked up to see the cloaking device around Ridley deactivate, the surge of electrical energy coating his dragon form. Ridley dropped to the ground in front of the Pirate Warrior.

Samus heard the distinct roar of Ridley and the following explosion, pausing and looking over her shoulder. The building rumbled slightly as something large moved above her. She slowly moved forward again, prepared for anything. The next room was a large data room, the only Pirates in there lightly armed. A few turrets lowered from the ceiling, alarmed at her entrance. She quickly froze them before they could fire and shattered them with her missiles. The lightly armed Pirates in the room began to run forward, weapons out. Samus took every single one out with a few plasma beam shots.

Heavier security would come in soon, so she would have to hack into the database as soon as she could. Her ship could take information out from the actual network, but couldn't get directly to the central computer and get all the classified material. She pulled up the holo-screens from the nearest computer and began hacking into the system, easily getting past all the security codes and encryptions. If she wasn't so used to Chozo technology and Pirate security measures, she wouldn't have been able to get in. They weren't using the Chozo's computers to their full capacity. She immediately got information on Ridley and downloaded it to her logbook. The amount of firepower they put in his meta-form was a little frightening. Fully functional Varia armor that had been augmented to deflect Ice and Plasma beam weapons. Full armament of beam technology, Ice, Plasma, Wave, and even Power. Ballistic weaponry, energy blades, and even variations of morph ball technology. The information on the morph ball technology was very vague and didn't say what had been done to it. Four different cloaking devices had been installed into his armor. They were easy to target when he was visible, so there had to be a few backups. The information was waiting to be updated, so Ridley could have had extra upgrades on top of all this.

Samus closed that information and began looking for anything else that would help her. One file name caused her to freeze completely.

"Mother Brain…" The pulsating organ flashed in her mind, the single bloodshot eye staring at her with ferocious intensity. She saw the giant mechanized body that it sat upon, a drooling maw screaming and roaring as it fired powerful beam weapons. She saw the multicolored wall of energy burst forward from the eye, ramming into her and draining her shields.

She took the file into her logbook and opened it up. It only said three words.

"Mother Brain returns!" There was nothing else in the whole database. No technical data, no weapons update, nothing. With the amount of Chozo technology the Pirates had access to, Mother Brain was sure to get the bulk of it. Just those three words. They were enough. Samus quickly downloaded a map and left the room before it was flooded with Pirate warriors.


	6. Ridley

_Samus' sleek gunship began planet fall on Zebes, landing in Crateria. The rocky structures bordered the Chozo temples, the area bustling with busy Chozo. A few greeted Samus, honoring the suited warrior with bows and grateful words. Samus smiled as she greeted her brothers, humbled by their actions. Her helmet was inactive, her hair tied up. She entered the temple, an entire ceremonial crowd cheering for her. The celebration of Samus' completed training was underway. She merely smiled and thanked everyone for showing up, wanting to speak with the planet's super computer, Mother Brain. After a few hours of talking with the crowd, she finally got the chance to reach the elevator to the counsel room._

_A distant speaker came on, and a strangely authentic voice filled the room._

"_Congratulations, Samus. The completion of your training is a day to be celebrated. You've come far."_

"_Thank you, Mother Brain, but there is business I wish to discuss." Samus walked up to the interactive access terminal and watched the hologram of Mother Brain as words scrolled across the screen. The speaker continued to talk._

"_Concerning what?"_

"_The planet Young Bird and the elite were assigned to."_

"_Zelen 48. Designated MG-239 by the Galactic Federation."_

"_Yes. I would like to know about the hostiles that invaded the planet."_

_The Mother Brain paused, the hologram flickering for a moment._

"_You've seen them before. In fact, you're about to see them again."_

_Samus stared at the interface, confused. She heard the distant explosion and the following warning sirens. The planet was under attack. Samus looked at the interface to see it had gone blank. She looked beyond the interface into the complex Mother Brain was built into. The fluids within the stasis tank bubbled as the fierce metal spiked organ pulsated sickly. Something was wrong. She quickly activated her helmet and ran to the elevator. Chozo civilians were running about in panic, scrambling for the escape pods while the few Chozo warriors in the area began activating their suits. Samus currently had a standard Power Suit, while most of the other warriors were equipped with powerful Varia Suits. They held no weapons, as they weren't needed. Samus followed them to the open area of Crateria, where the explosions seemed to be coming from. Her new arm cannon had been tested on the training grounds, but she had not used it on any living creatures yet. She quickly tapped into the collective psyche of her warriors, feeling the comfort of their confidence in battle._

_She saw the drop ships of the invaders begin to touch down, the silhouettes of the hostile aliens jumping out and advancing on the temples. More warriors began to fly out of the temple, levitating through the thrusters on the backs of their armor. No hostile force could stand up to an army of Chozo. But no army, of any origin, could stand up to the force of hell that descended from the sky without the assistance of a drop ship. A large dragon-like creature dropped to the ground and shrieked out a battle cry._

_Samus froze completely as the image of the demon from her past blasted fire at her birth mother. She shook her head and returned to the oncoming battle. One of her companions glanced back at her, concerned at the sudden fear that flooded Samus' mind. She nodded once, trying to focus. She understood what Mother Brain had said before. The invading forces were Space Pirates. The image of a large explosion in the sky that took out the aliens and her father flashed before her. She remembered seeing the demon being enveloped in the fire as it screeched in pain._

_Samus shook her head again and began firing at the incoming army. The Space Pirates normally had organic exoskeletons, their shells resembling crustaceans. These were no different. She easily took down a few of them with her cannon from a distance. Her Chozo companions had different offensive weapons. They gathered energy into their armored claws. Their natural ability to do this was augmented through energy vents on the backs of their hands. Depending on what setting they had on the outer ring of the vents, the energy could be formed into many different beams. Normal offensive Power beam, Ice, Plasma, and Wave. Their ability to manipulate energy and their telepathic connection to each other made them highly effective in battle._

_All of them were graceful and deadly as they attacked. Moving from location to location as though they were weightless, throwing concentrated balls of energy at their enemies. Samus continued to repel the invasion from where she stood, accurately shooting for the head. As the invasion began to dwindle, an eerie silence settled on the battle field. Samus' nerves began to strain under the pressure. Her flashbacks from earlier were still toying with her._

_The demon suddenly dropped in front of her, snatching her armored body in its claws and roaring in her face. Samus screamed in her helmet as every little moment of fear from that horrible day suddenly surged into her mind. The demon dragon. The monster Ridley. He survived K2-L. Samus couldn't move, the dragon's claw squeezing dents into her weak Power Suit. Samus' two energy tanks were draining as the armor took damage. The overwhelming fear and anxiety within her would have prevented any movement anyway. Two Chozo warriors intervened and fired their powerful Plasma blasts at Ridley. He roared in anger as he dropped Samus. She landed on the ground with a loud thud, "Energy Low" flashing on her visor. The world began to shroud with darkness, a short box of text opening up in the center of her visor._

"_The continued presence of the Chozo on this planet has hindered me. With the Space Pirates, I will purge the galaxy of beasts and my intelligence shall rule over all. So says Mother Brain."_

_***_

_Samus woke in her gunship, her energy tanks restored and her armor fully functional. She immediately sat up and aimed her cannon around, seeing no one but a single armored Chozo. She lowered her weapon and stood up._

"_Mother Brain betrayed us, Samus. She deactivated the planetary defense system and allowed the Space Pirates to overtake us."_

"_What?"_

"_We couldn't handle the strength of Ridley's forces. He plowed through our entire army and got to Mother Brain's complex. She is now in control over a massive Space Pirate fleet. The only thing we were able to remove from her memory banks was the security bypass to our technology. The Pirates won't have access to anything else we left behind."_

"_What about everyone else?"_

"_We got everyone off the planet safely. A few of our brothers fell to the invasion, but they fell honorably."_

_Samus looked down at her armor, remembering the crushing squeeze that had almost compromised her armor._

"_You're lucky. Ridley almost killed you. And something was jamming the telepathic broadcast system in your suit. We couldn't feel your distress." The Chozo began to signal to a mothership, preparing to leave. "The civilization is going into hiding. We have been hit hard with this attack, and we must recover in solitude."_

_Samus nodded, having slight difficulty in taking everything in._

"_We need you to carry on our work in the galaxy. We need you to be the protector. You're the only one of us who has the potential to do so." The Chozo put a hand on Samus' shoulder. She nodded again, keeping silent. The Chozo nodded in return and turned away from her, disintegrating from the gunship._

***

Samus walked into a large arena type room, innumerable amounts of Pirate Warrior bodies behind her. She had taken down all that the Space Pirates could throw at her, laying waste to the entire base's defenses. She had plowed through the army, and made it to the center of their command.

The room was completely empty, ceiling high up, walls far away. Samus saw the Mother Brain's stasis tank embedded high up in the wall furthest from her. She immediately began firing missiles at it. The eye opened alertly and stared directly at Samus before defense shutters closed over the tank. The missiles deflected off of the metal plates. Samus cursed in her helmet and began searching the wall for an opening. There was a strange cross-shaped depression just below where the tank was.

Samus heard growling right next to her head. She turned to see the cloaking device around Ridley deactivate as he roared in her face. Before she could shoot, a powerful punch sent her flying all the way into a wall. She stood up and saw Ridley stand on two legs as he roared. His armor was now tinted purple, and all the markings and glyphs constantly glowed a bright blue.

Samus somersaulted into the air, her deadly screw attack/space jump combo allowing her to dodge Ridley's plasma blast. The spot she had been standing at was molten metal now. Samus came out of her spin jump to see Ridley flying at her like a rocket, his body enveloped in the electrical energy of his own screw attack. He struck Samus and pinned her to the ceiling. The attack alone drained three of her energy tanks. She felt a gravitational pulse with her gravity suit right as Ridley took hold of her. He was standing on the ceiling as if it were the ground. The pulses continued as Ridley used his own gravity suit to full capacity.

Samus scanned him, trying to figure out where the armor's weak point was. She found the exposed cloaking devices and began firing her power beam at them. Ridley redirected the shots and absorbed them into a growing orb in his claw. He released Samus and slammed the orb into her, the concussive energy sending her to the floor. The air was knocked out of her lungs, and a few more tanks were drained.

It took a few seconds for Samus to recover. She looked around the empty arena, hearing the whoosh of artificial wings slicing at the air. She switched to her x-ray visor and watched Ridley circle above her. He was vulnerable with the cloak active, the power for his Varia Suit directed to the cloaking device. Samus charged her plasma beam and fired it, the spire connecting to his chest and blasting him into a wall. His shriek pierced directly through Samus' ears, his cloak deactivating. She immediately began firing at the exposed cloaking units, managing to take out two before Ridley began redirecting the Plasma Beam.

The area around him started becoming distorted, as if his body was giving off massive amounts of heat. Samus was hit hard as the gravitational distortion enveloped the entire room, bringing her to her knees. Even her own gravity suit couldn't overcome the powerful pull that Ridley had implemented. Ridley dropped to the floor and walked to Samus effortlessly. She strained to lift her cannon to the monster. The spire of charged plasma she fired was bent to an impossible curve all the way around Ridley and back to her, coating her suit in the flaming plasma and burning through an energy tank.

Ridley began cawing a strange guttural laughter before swiping her away. The pull of gravity caused Samus to hit the ground harder than usual. She glanced up to see an enormous amount of electrical energy surging to Ridley's open jaws. She struggled to get off the ground, trying to disrupt the gravitational distortion. Her suit used some of her energy to send a gravity pulse out, striking Ridley's suit and disrupting the field he was putting out. A few components on his body exploded from the pulse, causing Ridley to let off the charged shot in his jaws at the ceiling while he roared in pain. He stumbled for a moment, clutching at the compromised points in his armor, thick glowing blue plasma leaking out. Samus stood and aimed her weapon at the damaged creature.

Ridley glared angrily at her as he regained his composure. He began firing his Ice beam at her in rapid succession, freezing the area around her in his haste. Samus began to move in a circling motion, firing missiles at the compromised areas of his armor. Ridley managed to stop a few, but was still hit by the explosive blasts, the plasma beginning to leak at an alarming rate. Ridley tried using the cloaking devices he had left, only to have them both short out and compromise his armor further. Samus charged a super missile and fired it into his open jaw, causing the creature to recoil against the wall with the cross-shaped depression in it. Ridley paused completely, trying to steady his failing mechanical body. Samus aimed her cannon at him, ready to finish him off.

Ridley folded his wings up and jumped into the cross depression. Samus heard the whirring sound of morph ball technology as Ridley's body became one with the wall, morphing seamlessly into the structure. All the cracks and holes in Ridley's armor disappeared as the glyphs and marks extended out onto the structure. Something else began to take shape.

A much larger figure began to separate from the wall, the defense shutters around Mother Brain's stasis tank opening up. The tank itself opened, fluids dropping to the floor. The eye stared at Samus as the entire arena shook. The maw below the eye opened up, unleashing the deafening roar. Mother Brain's new body separated from the wall completely, the enormous biomechanical structure taking on the purple tint of Ridley's Gravity suit. Samus jumped back and began firing at the exposed brain. The glyphs covering Mother Brain's body glowed bright as a visible multi-colored shield formed around her, incinerating a few of Samus' missiles and freezing others.

Samus charged her plasma beam and fired at where Ridley used to be. Mother Brain intercepted the energy into her claws and charged it even further with her own plasma energy, blasting it forward in a concentrated strike. It hit in front of Samus, causing the spot to explode completely. The blast knocked her back into a wall, further draining her tanks. The sound of energy being sucked in caused her to freeze. She looked up to see the closed eye of the Mother Brain, the exposed organ glowing as it took in massive amounts of energy. Samus tried to find a way to dodge the attack, the open arena holding no obstacles to hide behind. The beam burst forward and struck Samus directly, pinning her against the wall. Samus could do nothing but yell and watch as her tanks were slowly depleted.

Samus fell to the floor, managing to land on her feet. She immediately fell to the ground. The red letters flashed on her visor, spelling out "Energy Low." She tried to use the energy in her reserve tanks, but a malfunction cut off her use of the stored energy. Smaller text was scrolling up her view, listing malfunctions with various components of her suit. Arm Cannon malfunction, Space Jump malfunction, Speed Booster malfunction; they continued to list technical problems with energy dispersal in her suit, resulting in movement failures in her arms and legs, and parts of her torso. Due to this, and the weakness of her worn out body, she was unable to move quickly. Samus could only manage to get in a crouching position. She couldn't run.

The computer in her suit informed her that it had found a way to reroute the energy in her reserve tanks to the auto-repair system so she could regain mobility. It had already started the process, but it wouldn't be quick enough. She watched as the monstrous claw of her ultimate enemy rose from the floor and stopped above her head, plunging down to crush her. Her vision was too blurry to see it clearly.


	7. Overdrive

The sound of metal striking metal was all she heard. She felt no pain. Samus' vision began to clear back up, confusing her. She looked up to see Mother Brain's claw hovering above her, trembling and straining as if something was holding it back. It made a sudden leap down, causing two footprints to be cratered into the metal floor. She stared at the craters, watching electrical energy surge over a figure standing between Mother Brain and the floor. The disrupted cloaking device fell away, revealing a fully armored Chozo holding up the claw.

"Hurry! Get out of here!" he yelled. Samus mustered what strength she had left and pushed herself away from the area, skidding across the battle scarred floor. She looked at the struggle between the two. Mother Brain roared in anger as she continued to try and crush the Chozo. Samus saw the energy surge through the Chozo's arms as he actually pushed Mother Brain's leg away and jumped up, charging energy into his claws. He rammed the charged orb directly into the fleshy eye, causing it to explode along with a considerable amount of the brain's structure.

Mother Brain groaned lowly as it stumbled back, blinded. She hit a control on the wall with a massive fist, causing the wall to split open. She stumbled through it and allowed it to close behind her. Samus could hear the distant groans of the damaged Mother Brain. The Chozo landed on the ground nimbly without the use of his back thrusters. He turned to Samus, his gravity suit scuffed and scorched with age. The reserve tanks were empty, the auto repair having used all the energy. Her suit wasn't completely functional but she managed to stand up. She was hunched over slightly as the Chozo approached her. He watched her as she struggled to look up at him. The blue visor on his helmet flipped up, revealing his face.

"Young Bird!" Samus managed to breathe out. Young Bird's eyes seemed glazed over, as if he was in the haze of a dream.

"Samus…" He shook himself, clearing his head and looking at his injured sister. "You're hurt." He placed his claws on the shoulder mounted generators of Samus' suit and began sending energy directly to them, quickly activating her auto repair and filling all of her tanks. The suit became completely functional, its full power flowing through Samus again.

She stood up straight, her body no longer weak. She immediately deactivated her helmet and stared at her once lost companion. Strangely, he embraced her, something that she thought years of hard training and war would have been rejected from the body's possible actions. Even stranger, she returned the embrace.

"I knew you were alive…" Young Bird only nodded, breaking their connection.

"There is much to do before we can rest. We must stop Mother Brain."

"None of my attacks can get through. And she's bound to be prepared to fight you off by now. How can we defeat her?"

"I have communed with the elders. You hold the key to the destruction of Mother Brain."

"What?"

"During my seclusion, I learned to communicate across the galaxy. Time taught me the way. The elders didn't get the chance to tell you what they had trusted you with before they went into hiding. They revealed what had happened on Zebes to me, and trusted me with the information about you."

"What information?"

"They saw much more in you than they saw in any of us. They saw the potential you carry, and the limitless trust they could put into you. Hidden throughout your entire suit's system, is a weapon of enormous power. They call it, Overdrive."

"Overdrive?" Samus looked down at her left hand, trying to understand.

"It's a state of almost pure, limitless energy. It gathers concentrated particles in the air and uses them to directly fuel every single function in your suit, boosting your abilities to a limitless capacity. In Overdrive, you are completely invincible, and you will be faster and more powerful than you have ever been before. The only downside is the rate of attack. You have to charge your arm cannon before each shot."

Samus could only stare at Young Bird, not believing that the power could exist, let alone that the elders would trust her with such a devastating ability.

"I know it's difficult to believe, but it is there within you, and it's the only thing that can stop Mother Brain."

"Why me? How could they trust me with that power?"

Young Bird looked directly into Samus' eyes, delivering the message straight to her soul.

"Because no one else had the restraint you had. You never did more than you had to in battle training. You never used an attack to kill an enemy ten times over. And according to what they saw in your possible future, you would always have the restraint and clear judgment to never abuse the Overdrive."

Samus looked down at her left hand again, the armor scuffed from her battle with the Space Pirates. The innumerable enemies she had ended all went the same way. With Samus' honorable regards. Young Bird watched her patiently. She closed her hand in a fist and stepped away from Young Bird.

She closed her eyes, searching deep within herself, and her suit, for the key. She felt the power slowly and gradually gathering to her. She let it continue, although she felt that the power was unnecessary. She tried to remember her battle just earlier, how she almost died, how she was in need of extra power. Her mental gates were opened and the gathering energy picked up speed. She could feel every individual plate of her armor receive the massive power, becoming stronger. She felt every particle of her being become super charged, containing the potential energy of her speed booster; potential energy that could be easily converted into kinetic energy with little to no effort on her part. She reached a certain capacity of her own mental limitations, even though she had a physically limitless capacity for the energy. She opened her eyes to see a completely blank HUD. Her energy indicator was replaced with a flashing word. "Overdrive." She looked around the battle arena, seeing it all with extreme detail, able to make out the patterns in the top corners of the room. Her gaze finally settled on Young Bird, who had lowered his visor back down. He stepped back and away from Samus, giving her room.

Samus aimed her cannon at the massive door Mother Brain had gone through; her entire suit glowing a bright gold, exactly like the kinetic energy that enveloped her when her speed booster was active. She began gathering energy to the tip of her cannon, a bright glowing orb forming. Young Bird watched silently as Samus released the powerful blast. The entire door crumbled and disintegrated, revealing an even larger room. Mother Brain was locked down by a few tubes that connected directly to her organic brain. The eye had completely healed, more blood shot than earlier. She roared at the sight of the two warriors, red slime pouring out of her mouth.

Samus kicked off from the ground, flying through the air at an even faster speed than her speed booster allowed. She got to mother brain and kicked her where Ridley was, causing the wall she was against to crack slightly. Samus pushed away from the giant figure and landed nimbly on the ground. Mother Brain's eye was wide and seemed to be oozing blood. The tubes detached and Mother Brain immediately tried to attack. Samus was already at her legs, completely detaching one. Mother Brain screeched and leaned one of her hands on the wall to keep from falling. Samus landed at the ground again and watched Mother Brain try to collect herself. The familiar vacuum sound began again, the Mother Brain taking in multicolored energy. Samus began charging her cannon and waited.

Mother Brain's hyper beam burst forward and hit Samus directly. She merely stood in the middle of it, focusing on Mother Brain's eye. Once her cannon was charged completely, she launched herself toward the eye, flying through the hyper beam's ray as if it weren't there. She thrust her cannon into the eye, the energy completely destroying the brain, most of its upper body exploding.

Ridley's screech could be heard as he reformed from the torso, caught up in the blast. Samus hit the ground again as soon as Mother Brain's body fell, more explosions from its internal system enveloping the screeching Ridley. Samus watched as the explosions settled and the great dragon stumbled away from the wreckage, falling face down on the floor. He stopped moving.

Warning sirens started going off in her helmet. Samus suddenly felt a great pain sear through her entire body, causing her to completely lose the feeling of power she previously had. A bolt of energy released itself from her suit, blasting her backwards. The bolt hit Ridley, causing all of the glyphs on his motionless body glow a bright gold. Samus dispelled her Overdrive, the pain stopping immediately. She stood up from where she landed, watching Ridley. The glyphs continued to glow, all the damaged and compromised areas of his body repairing themselves. The words "Gravity Suit malfunction. Speed Booster malfunction" scrolled across her visor. She looked down at her armor to see it had lost its purple tint, now the orange gold of her Varia Suit.

Ridley's eyes shot open as the gold glow settled to a dim blue. He got back up and roared at Samus before he was hit by a strong plasma blast that knocked him back down. Young Bird's hands were thrust in front of him, flaming plasma slowly leaking from his palms. Ridley roared again and jumped through a wall using his screw attack. The blast rocked the room for a moment, Ridley's screeching and roaring fading.

Young Bird ran to Samus, who was looking down at her suit again.

"What happened? Did Ridley absorb part of the Overdrive?"

"No. The technology is untested, there are bound to be many things we don't know about Overdrive. It seems your armor shorted out for a moment. It dispelled a piece of your equipment and it just happened to hit Ridley."

Samus looked at the hole Ridley had made. He was probably exiting the atmosphere by now. She then looked at the remains of Mother Brain's body.

"Where are the rest of the Chozo hiding?" Young Bird had deactivated his helmet, relaxing for possibly the first time in years.

"I do not know."

"Why not? You said you had communed with the elders."

"Before I could ask where they retreated to, the Mother Brain became active again. If I had continued communicating she would have found not only me, but the entire Chozo society. I couldn't risk it."

"What about now?"

"Now, they are too far away…"

Samus looked at Young Bird's sorrowful face. He was supposed to be with the rest of his people, helping in the reformation of the society. But now he was stuck, away from them.

"That is not why I feel sorrow."

Samus froze, staring at Young Bird. He could feel her emotions, like the elders did.

"I am sorrowful over the events that led to the retreat. If I could have stopped the Pirates here, maybe they would not have come to Zebes and commandeered the Mother Brain." They were both looking at the wreckage now. Pieces of organic matter clung to the metal components that served as a neck, all of it scorched and dead.

Samus looked around the room, finding a small control panel behind a blast shield. She hacked into it with her scan visor and opened it up. The controls were easy to get into, and once she activated them, the ceiling began to split, opening up to the sky. Water dripped down, having built up from the rain. The clouds were parted in a few places, the nearby star shining through them. Samus walked back to Young Bird, calling her ship. The sun shined off of his armor, even though it was scuffed and scorched from his ordeal. He looked just like he had so many years ago, fresh from training and ready to fight with the elites.

Samus' ship began to land near them, settling next to the dead Mother Brain. Samus jumped to the top of her ship and waited for Young Bird. She could see the smile in him as he jumped up next to her. Her suit began dematerializing as she lowered herself into the ship. Once Young Bird was in, Samus was in the pilot's seat, getting ready to leave the planet.

Her suit's diagnostics were displayed on a holo screen. Nothing had changed about it, other than the absence of her gravity suit and speed booster. Whatever the Overdrive was, it was so integrated into her suit, she wouldn't be able to find and remove it. But she had enough confidence that she would never lose enough control to accidently activate it. Only when it was absolutely necessary. Once Ridley made his appearance again, there might be a need for it. After Ridley is removed, the Overdrive would lose its purpose.

Samus closed the view screen. Young Bird was leaning against one of the walls of the ship, watching Samus work.

"Looks like you're stuck with me until you can contact the others."

"Not a very bad turn out, considering Mother Brain's plans for the unidentified intruder they never caught. And I believe we have some unfinished business to work out."

Samus had almost forgotten their plans to practice. Young Bird had returned, and they had their agreements to tend to.

"Maybe after some sleep. I'd imagine you hadn't slept at all through those years you were evading capture."

Young Bird nodded. The power suit could keep their bodies from falling apart when they were not able to sleep, the energy keeping their bodies refreshed. It was an uncomfortable way to live for so long.

Samus pressed a few buttons on the holo screens, the back door opening, a small stasis-tank-like pod sitting in the middle of it. Young Bird walked to it, deactivating his suit as he did so. He stepped into the tank, the glass shutting over him. Energy enveloped his body slightly as he was put into cryostasis. Samus turned away and began pulling up information, trying to see if Ridley had attacked any ships to commandeer.

Nothing turned up. Most likely he had sent a distress signal out to a nearby Pirate ship and boarded with them. Samus closed all the holo screens and sat back in the pilot's chair, her own cryostasis procedure activating.

***

Ridley boarded the Pirate Frigate Siriacus, heading straight for the bridge, actually killing the workers of the ship on the way. He was frustrated over the loss at MG-239, and at being bested once again by the Hunter. The frigate took more damage from him alone than its previous encounter with a GF battle cruiser. Once Ridley made it to the commanding bridge, he began scans of his body, curious about his revival in Mother Brain's chamber. He found nothing substantial other than the acquisition of a speed booster device. Something that wasn't compatible before.

"Lord Ridley! An unidentified gunship has hacked our net."

Ridley looked at a different view screen, seeing a black gunship speeding away from the frigate. He was too angry to waste energy going after a hacker.

"Leave it," he growled. Right as the Pirate turned away to go back to its station, Ridley's tail impaled it through the chest and flung it back against a wall.

He read through the report. The hacker had taken information concerning the hunter. For what reason, Ridley could only guess. He only hoped that the hacker would attempt to hinder the hunter so Ridley could finally finish what he failed to do on Zebes that very first invasion.

***

A/N: Well, that's it for this particular adventure. Yes, there are plans for a sequel of some kind. Any feedback I get from this story will be greatly appreciated. If you would like to read the next story in line then please say so. I hope you all enjoyed the story. See you next mission.


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